Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 257

May 5, 200320 counties in Michigan

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 5, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT for 20 counties in Michigan. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2003, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Branch County, MI, Calhoun County, MI, Clinton County, MI, Eaton County, MI, Genesee County, MI, Gratiot County, MI, Hillsdale County, MI, Ingham County, MI, Jackson County, MI, Lapeer County, MI, Lenawee County, MI, Livingston County, MI, Macomb County, MI, Monroe County, MI, Oakland County, MI, Saginaw County, MI, Saint Clair County, MI, Shiawassee County, MI, Washtenaw County, MI, Wayne County, MI

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:46 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

Warnings issued inside it

14 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 5:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham	29 min
May 5, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Shiawassee	49 min
May 5, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham	45 min
May 5, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Genesee	39 min
May 5, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Washtenaw	50 min
May 5, 6:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Livingston	40 min
May 5, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Genesee, Oakland	32 min
May 5, 7:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Lapeer	51 min
May 5, 7:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Washtenaw	48 min
May 5, 7:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Wayne	57 min
May 5, 7:29 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Wayne	46 min
May 5, 7:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Oakland	43 min
May 5, 7:53 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Macomb, Oakland	52 min
May 5, 7:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Saint Clair	63 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

Mesoscale Discussion 769May 5, 5:27 PM EDT

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 69 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 496 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 401 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 5:27 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Branch, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Hillsdale and 14 more	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Michigan, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.